There has been a lot of speculation about what will happen next for Kimi Raikkonen, who has had a difficult season since his move back to Ferrari.

He has not looked the same driver whose return to F1 with Lotus was so garlanded with podiums and race wins. He has had problems with various aspects of the Ferrari, particularly the feel of the car.

Today, in a frank admission, Raikkonen told reporters that he simply intends to see out the second year of his contract, when asked how long he plans to race on,

“Until my contract is finished, and then I will probably stop. That is what I think is going to happen,” said the Finn.

The notion of stopping at the end of 2015 isn’t all that surprising; the Finn will be 36 by then. More interesting is that he wants to make it clear that he will be in F1 next season, despite suggestions to the contrary.

Former champion Jacques Villeneuve was critical of Raikkonen last week, for example,

“If he can’t drive in F1 anymore, he should go home. He is a very experienced driver,” Villeneuve said, “So he shouldn’t be making excuses at every grand prix like a rookie does.

“He should take two or three races to change how he’s driving, and if he can’t, that’s a problem. You can’t go on like this when you’re a world champion.

“You have no right to make excuses.”

Raikkonen went for the offer made by Ferrari for 2014 because he felt the best option with a significant rule change was to be with a works team that has its own engine.

The Ferrari power unit has proved to be inferior to the Mercedes and even the Renault. Nevertheless, Raikkonen has just 19 points to team mate Fernando Alonso’s 79; his best result a pair of seventh places.

He was on target for a podium in Monaco but got a puncture after pitting under the safety car and lost the opportunity.

“The problem isn’t the brake by wire system,” Raikkonen said after the last race in Austria, “It is that the car doesn’t react the way I want it to. We have to improve the balance and the mechanical grip.”

I usually don’t like when old drivers are talking who should do what in current F1, but I have to agree with one simple point made by Villeneuve. You can’t go on like this and keep saying that car feels not the way you want it. Apparently the other guy is driving it much faster, so get your act together. I think drivers have became too spoiled in the last 10 years with cars basically driving themselves with drivers just steering it, compared to what it meant driving turbos in the 80s.
Not feeling the way he likes it can’t be excuse. It can be an excuse that he needs a few races to adjust his driving, but he can’t be looking into 9th race of the season and still being confused about how to drive the car. You are always being measured against your teammate, and if the other guy it always in the top 5, than you are obviously not doing good enough job yourself.

Guy is 43. I can’t believe that someone doesn’t see the marketing value of taking Villeneuve name to the LeMans victory. Audi should consider giving Villeneuve a spot on the team. I bet Jacques would even do it free.

The difference I suppose would be that Jacques Villenueve won the championship in his 2nd year of Formula 1 then raced several more years. Raikkonen won it in his seventh season, retired at the end of his ninth then returned 2 years later. I see your point though, but perhaps it’s JV’s way (speaking from his own experience) of advising KR not to cause anymore damage to his win percentage. At the end of 1997, JV’s win percentage was 33.33%. He raced until the middle of 2006 and never won another race.

Certainly, it has been a annus horribilis for Kimi and not only in 2014 but since the second half of 2013.

Yes, ever since the Pirelli tyres were made harder Kimi has struggled as he was one of those drivers that had a good feel for the earlier fragile tyres as he was able to bring them up to temperature faster and keep them there longer than others.

Now seeing as we will roughly have the same rubber in the future, I can understand why Kimi has decided to take this step.

Hopefully, Kimi will get on top of some of the car issues in 2015 so he can have a decent send off into retirement just like the one he had in 2009.

However, it’s possible Kimi will retire still as Ferrari last champion which is a big honour in the F1 circles so this isn’t your ordinary number 2 driver bowing out.

P.s.

So it appears 2015 will be a big year for the young guns for this is their chance to show what they can do with the hope of getting picked up by Ferrari.

According to SuomiF1, Finnish site who first reported about Ferrari’s Kimi deal the contract is 2+1 years, NOT 1+1 year like all other sites have reported…and since Kimi said nothing about retiring after 2015, its still possible we see him in 2016. Depends what the contract really is and how 2015 season will go.

Well, to the many I can foresee decrying Kimi as a washed up has-been and applauding Villeneuve’s viewpoint, I can only say, “Wow”. I firmly believe Kimi has lost none of his inherent speed or phenomenal raw talent, but will say that he’s obviously been unable to crack the problem of the current Ferrari F1′s handling traits. Perhaps he should stop trying to make the car do what he expects a car to do and really try to assess what it actually is doing and go from there. But I certainly don’t blame any driver (especially one with Kimi’s credentials) for trying to bend the car to his will. They all do it. Teams normally pay them a lot to do exactly that. i hope next year’s car makes more sense to him and he end his career more strongly.

Good to hear. Need Kimi to be part of F1 for another season.
Great to know he still speaks his mind & keeps it neat & simple.
No “Ifs” or “Buts” just I’ll be racing till the end of my contract then its bye bye.
Super guy be a sad loss to F1 if Ferrari decide to pay him off for next year & sent on “Gardening Leave” (early retirement while be paid a years salary).

“More interesting is that he wants to make it clear that he will be in F1 next season, despite suggestions to the contrary.”

I’m not so sure about that. He’s simply said he’ll drive until his contract is up, then he’ll quit. Which is pretty much all he can do. He can’t exactly go out and say “I’m going to break my contract and refuse to drive next year”. To me it almost sounds like he’s showing Ferrari an opportunity to agree an early contract termination.

I think he has no motivation to fight for every lap when the car is poor or not to his liking. In Monaco, when he was in top-3 he was matching Mercedes pace and he was a tad faster than Alonso until he suffered the puncture. Also over his career we have seen him go all green or purple in time sheets during the last few laps of the race when in positions > 5. So if he could do that in one lap, why not do that in every lap of the race and gain a position or two at least through pit-stops by the end of the race? That is what Alonso does. But Kimi seems to be like “I’ll be fast only if you give me the car that I like to drive or if I find myself in top-3 somehow.” Alonso on the other hand: “Give me a car and I’ll see what I can do best with it.” Well that explains the situation Kimi and Alonso find themselves in. I’m sure if both of them were in very competitive cars, we could have seen proper racing between them.

Also on this note, Ferrari strategy seem is very poor. They made Kimi lose positions during pit stops in almost every race.

I think in qualifying Kimi had generally been closer to Alonso than in races (usually only one or two positions difference). You can where they start and where they end up in the race: that explains the difference and Kimi’s no interest in driving for positions. Regarding why Alonso is mostly in the front in qualifying, is down to one/both of these two things: Alonso has adapted his style to the car or the car+tyres design suits him more.

As sad an end as it would be, I expect Kimi to be out of Ferrari by the year end unless he shows any sign of improvement. What’s the point in keeping him on to be a more expensive Massa? Time for Bianchi to step up maybe?

From the purely financial perspective, if Kimi has a watertight contract for 2015 then paying him off AND paying for someone else would cost more money.

Ferrari would have to be very, very sure Bianchi would score a lot more points to make that switch worthwhile.

I think the comments he made after Canada could point to the real cause of his issues with the Ferrari. He wants the front end to bite and he probably pushes the bias forwards to help that. With the extra torque from the turbo, hard rear tyres and erratic power delivery from the ERC that tends to make the back end come unstuck hence the two power on spins coming out of the haripin in Montreal. I also remember seeing something similar in one of the earlier races (Bahrain or Malaysia?) where the back end stepped out when he put the power down.

Overall the car looks like a dog but then the first Ferrari KERS car in 2009 was pretty awful (Fisi couldn’t adapt to the erratic braking) yet Kimi managed to steal the win at Spa. Hopefully 2014 or 15 will present a similar chance.

There is something about his manner that I find extremely arrogant, condescending and bitter. All his sound bites appear to be negative of others laced with a heavy dose of how great he believes he was. Of course completely irrational by me as I’ve never met or spent any time with the man but the Jacques we see via the media doesn’t appear a pleasant person.

I know what you mean. He has so much arrogance. As Hugh Laurie’s Dr. House said, “arrogance has to be earned”. And I don’t think Villeneuve has proved enough in his life to have this level of arrogance.

The difference between Kimi and Alonso is that Kimi can do miracles when things go his way – I am like this too. Kimi will need to have this emotional level of comfort, something to inspire him and the environment where he can thrive. Alonso is different, he will get the maximum from whatever is available for him. I think Alonso might be the best and most consistent out there. Over the long run….Alonso would be better than Hamilton, Vettel or anybody else…he has the killer instinct and he adapts. Hamilton is too emotional and not consistent. Vettel surprised me this year….he should do much batter as a 4 times champion and again it looks like he can win only when the car is 100% to his liking. This only tells me that Alonso is really the strongest out there….over a longer run.

Ye Alonso is propably the best when it comes to driving difficult cars that underperform….not saying that he would be great in great car as well, but I still fully believe that Kimi is fully capable of beating Alonso, but only if Ferrari manages to improve the car for next year and build a car that reacts well to setup changes…just last weekend Kimi said again that whenever they try to make the front of the car the way he likes it, they completely loose the rear….that alone tells that car is crap, letalone the fact that it doesnt seem to react well for new updates, Im still not sure if Ferrari has taken use any of the updates they brought to Canada…

But ye, if next year’s car will be like F14T, then there is no hope for either driver, even less for Kimi to get any good results.

People say that he should adapt and change his driving style, but that’s easy for you to say, especially since Kimi has only 1 or 2 seasons left after this one, he doesnt have time or luxury to try to learn new tricks, especially as Alonso’s team-mate…the best hope for him to beat Alonso and do better is indeed to get Ferrari do what he wants for next’s years car and that is to have sharer front end without loosing the grip from the rear of the car.

One reason why Kimi managed to do so well in Lotus (besides the softer tyre compounds) was that Lotus in 2012 and 2013 reacted well to the setup changes and new updates and the team really listened to Kimi, you might even say built around Kimi…..so ye, Kimi can get the job done, but you need to give him the tools to do it….and I agree with other people that in that area Alonso is definitely better, especially cause his driving style doesnt require that sharp front end that Kimi needs, that’s just the way it is. But again I think the responsibility is not Kimi’s alone, its also up to Ferrari to do better, especially cause they must have known what kind of car Kimi needs to perform his best.

Give him the car he needs and stop making strategic errors. Has he lots his speed since the Lotus years? Most probably no. Is he motivated to race between 5th-15th places with a car that he does not trust? Probably no? Villeneuve is a joke. Kimi is one of the most talented driver ever race in F1, period. Nothing will change that.

It would be sad to see F1 without Kimi. As when he has something to say it’s interesting and to the point …. per radio reply in the last GP. With most of the other drivers one knows what they will say before they say it.

Since Alonso has said he does not expect to win a race this year …. it would seem the problem is at Ferrari.

Given how Kimi is going at Ferrari with a car he doesn’t like I’d guess he’d be more in Vettel’s boat and given everything I’ve read I seriously doubt that Honda will be matching Mercedes, let alone beating them.

As long as they’re happy to have him Ferrari is probably Kimi’s best shot.

I don’t think Kimi is losing it. I just think Alonso is demonstrating that he can drive a very poor car harder than anyone else. Kimi isn’t renowned for adapting his style, in fact few drivers are, it’s just going up against Alonso in a sub standard car is career suicide. The one thing Alonso always demonstrates is he can modify his style race to race, even lap by lap.

Kimi is like a virtuoso musician who works miracles on his instrument. In terms of car, if it has a grippy oversteering front end and stable back he will deliver more speed than anyone else.

If the car has a slow turning, understeeing front [thats how Alonso likes them] and a back end you can’t predict he will not be comfortable with it. Plus the Ferrari is down on power.

If you hire the best blues guitarist there is, don’t give him a crappy 12 string Yamaha and expect him to deliver!!!

Add to that it is a new team [his old engineers are no longer there], his race engineer is green as a granny smith, his car is seldom without a glitch often serious …..
actually, it’s not surprising he lags behind Alonso. Prost might have fared no better.

What is he doing about it? He is working hard and not getting depressed, and certainly not worrying what second rate drivers, current or past, have to say about it.

Not sure about F1. But if you are talking about music, then I am afraid you are wrong. The music virtuosos are very very particular about the instrument and also its tuning. Yes mediocre don’t care about the instrument or its tuning, but then the music quality is also not in the league of the virtuosos.

i think perhaps kimi has finally woken up to the fact that he simply hasn’t got ‘it’ any more. it certainly is time for him to go…..gracefully. if he is as good as he thinks he is, then surely after eight races he should have a handle on the car. he is just making up the numbers and in so doing trousering a hefty wedge to expand his superannuation.

how many F1 champs have ever made a successful return to the grid? just pack your bags pal and close the door quietly when you leave. time for new blood…..

We all saw how Kimi was incredibly successful was as a comeback driver – probably the most successful one ever.

Has Kimi now lost the plot? Its possible, but I imagine the guys at Maranello would know more about that than me or you, and if they agreed with you sacking Kimi would probably have already happened -lets face it they sacked him once before so we know they would again.

Again Kimi hasnt lost it, but he just cant deliver great results with car that behaves like F14T does….and its simply too late for him to try to adapt and change at this late stage of his career when he is going retire in 1 or 2 years, and especially more so as Alonso’s team-mate…

Right now Kimi needs to work hard to get his point and will trough with next year’s car, cause if it behaves like F14T does (even if they would manage to otherwise improve the power-unit, aerodynamics etc), then dont expect to see much better from him, atleast compared to Alonso.

Again if that would be the case, then I would say its more big fail from Ferrari than it is from Kimi…cause that just shows that they were incapable of delivering good car, incapable of listening to their driver, incapable of getting the best out of Kimi.

To say that Kimi lost it just after 2 great seasons at Lotus is absolutely ridicilous, but this car just doesnt fit Kimi and its easy for us or the likes of Villeneuve (who never achieved anything in F1 after superb car in 1997) to say that “adapt or quit”….

For me it was very clear from the beginning that to beat Alonso Kimi would need the car to handle the way he likes so he would be able to perform to his absolute best and unfortunately F14T is a crappy car that doesnt respond well to the changes that Kimi would want (or Alonso can do much with it either).

Lets just say that if Ferrari finishes 4th or even 5th at this year’s constructor’s championship, then that’s what they deserve and I would blame the team more than Kimi.

@ alex….two great seasons at lotus. i would question that for a start and besides it is all history. same with vettel, 4 x WDC, so what? it is the current state that matters and these guys are judged on their current performances not what they did aeons ago.

the score board doesn’t lie. raikonnen is 60 points in the hole and this is the only statistic that matters. if you want another analogy look at red bull. the vettel supporters are voicing very similar arguments but that situation is even worse in many ways, however we are discussing raikonnen here so i’ll let that go. raikonnen was touted as a complete foil to alonso based solely on him having won a WDC many years ago. he won that by one point or so i seem to recall. so where does all this blind adoration come from?

his rallying record leaves a lot to be desired as well. the entire ‘chimera’ surrounding this so called ‘iceman/cool dude’ is simply a marketing strategy that has over time garnered an almost mythical ethos. yes, kimi is a good driver. top drawer? no and i don’t believe he ever was.he should be able to provide a better performance relative to his team mate. he seems, ATM, not able to do so.

I don’t know what Jacques problem with Kimi is. He has always been critical of Kimi and said exactly the same thing when Kimi first came back with Lotus. At the time, Grosjean had been outperforming Kimi in quali and Jacques was the first to say that Lotus should look elsewhere.

As everyone said, it is really ironic as when Jacques was given the last 3 races of a season in a Renault some years ago he was absolute rubbish and claimed he needed time with the car. [mod].

Any article on Kimi always attracts numerous comments, we’ve heard them all before. Some say he’s overrated and needs a quick car to perform, others think he’s awesome. Either way, whether you believe Alonso is better or that he is no faster than Massa the one thing nobody can disput about Kimi is that give him a sniff of a win and he’ll deliver. Ok I’ll admit, there was one instance (I think Bahrain last year? when he should’ve taken Vettel) but otherwise whenever he has a sniff he’s there.
Remember Spa in the pig of a Ferrari?

Yes, maybe he should spend more time developing the car, maybe he should be as dedicated as Alonso or Vettel but if that’s the case why employ people on large salaries to design the cars in the first place.
Look, I’m not looking for an argument, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I simply think that Kimi’s interest is in winning, full stop. Second doesn’t register and certainly being asked to look after the brakes on lap 3 (of the last race) will have filled him with about as much motivation as an empty cornetto fridge.

However, I will say this. With the potential and pole position of that Williams at the last race, I believe that Kimi may well have sniffed a win and brought that car home first, alas we’ll never know…..

Apparently yes!, In Silverstone, Kimi said he can’t even get the car to straighten after corner exit.
This comment comes from a Driver, with a decade long experience!
So either that car is a crap, or his engineer is a moron! How can the car behave so differently race after race, practice after practice?

Kimi himself said in Austria, that his biggest problem with F14T is corner entry and Alonso doesn’t have this problem.
Quite clearly, Alonso+Stella combination have found better handling/tuning of F14T, and kimi+Spagnolo are nowhere in comparison.

But now in Silverstone,the problem atleast in FP2 was straightening the car on corner exits, so see how problem changed from last race to this week’s practice!

That’s why I said how can car change such behaviour (almost complete opposite) from race to race, practice to practice.

Also, I agree with Sebee’s comment above, Alonso did say he was not happy with the last year’s car and got his year tweaked by LDM. So yeah, Once bitten twice Shy.

Driving around the issues of the car never actually won Alonso a championship with Ferrari. Cribbing about the handling of the car did help Kimi get what he needed at the second half of 2007 and he won the title.

Kimi came to Ferrari because Allison was heading over there. He and Fernando Alonso knew 2014 is a transitional year with Allison coming into the team much later last year to be a factor.

Next year, if what Ferrari has said is true (They know where the PU is lacking and can fix it) and if they have a good winter that fixes that poor excuse of a Power Unit, Allison’s chassis could make them competitive atleast if not to mount a championship challenge. The Raikkonen Allison combination did work well at Lotus. So I am expecting Kimi being more comfortable and Alonso being more happy next year.

Allison is completely in charge of next year’s car. And He will design the car with Push Rod design for Front End.
Push Rod has much more flexibility and is relatively easy to fine tune to find a good set up. Pull Rod is the opposite that’s why none of the teams on the grid (top teams) use it.

With Push Rod suspension for next year I have better hopes from Ferrari & Kimi next year.

He was never that good. He barely got the better of Massa in 07, then Massa beat him in 08 and 09 up until the accident.

If they had of kept Schumacher, Ferrari would have romped to the drivers title in 07 and 08 given how dominant Schumacher was over Massa in 06.

Ferrari are gluttons for punishment. How could they throw $20 million a year at this guy after his 2007-09 stint proved he’s slightly slower than Massa on balance. On top of that he doesn’t work well with engineers, isn’t much of a team player, rude, comes across as lazy at times.

sorry phil glass, but i simply can’t understand what you base your comments on? raikonnen is performing very poorly and it would be far better if he simply left and handed over to a new exciting young driver so that the future talent bank is expanded. personally, and i don’t wish to offend anyone, but raikonnen is an embarassment.

like vettel, to date, has also been an embarassment .both these much touted drivers have been shown up for what they really are today. we are already at the halfway mark and they are simply not performing. i’m certain that they are doing their very best but on track performances tell the sad and sorry tale of their failures to adapt to the new cars.

alonso is still performing but the likes of button, raikonnen, et al are surely past their peak and are now winding down as we are all witness to. it is not a pretty sight.

@kenneth, yet this same driver you are bashing now managed to get great results with Lotus…you just dont loose your ability and talent to drive in few short months….for sure the fact is that Kimi is struggling badly, but the fact also is that the car is shit…Alonso can get more out of it, but its still crap, pure and simple and its not responding well to anything that Ferrari and Kimi have tried to do with it to make it work the way he wants.

For sure you can say all you want that Kimi has to deal with it and adapt, but its huge fail from the team if they are unable to even remotely make Kimi feel comfortable with the car, right now he is far from it and it only seems to get worse and worse with every passing weekend…

@ alex…. no i am not bashing anyone, just pointing out the obvious. the lotus may well have been easier to drive therefore giving raikonnen more success. so what? that is all history now. let’s just stay with the present. yes, i agree that the ferrari is not a ‘bundle of joy’ to drive for either of them. that being the case and the fact that alonso is achieving better results comes down to the driver given that the cars are near identical.

raikonnen has been around for a long time and he has competed in muliple motor sport disciplines which should give him a a variety of skills with which to apply to his current drive. i stand by my original supposition. he is not as good as some people think and for what he has contributed to the ferrari results rather confirms this. of course these comments are only my opinion and i could well be totally wrong. i accept that. however when raikonnen starts to regularly finish in front of alonso i will then partially recant.

Any driver should be able to drive a car the way a car wants to be driven, find its strengths and use it. there are very few cars that will actually let you drive them how you want to drive. i loved watching alonso’s and Fisi’s cars 2005/6 understearing everywhere. but dam fast

If kimi cannot perform then it’s fine, what makes fans and people over here sick is the tireless excuses which have been suggested in favor of kimi when he performs poorly. All the pilots in the grid have difficulty this season with new regulations and formula. Yet some perform with what ever has be given to them with little fuss. while other pilots like (Kimi) for instance gives excuse after excuse throughout the season thus far.

I maybe among the minority here, yet i believe Alonso is the greatest talent i have ever seen in Formula 1. Alonso just amazes everyone with his bravura performance every time when he turns up to the track. Does not matter which car Fernando drives for. His exertions are wonderful to watch always

Give raikkonen the best car, he will not even be a factor in WDC and gets whacked by felipe massa. Like how kimi performed back in 2008 with the fastest package in the grid F2008. Also kimi will drive like a novice and make mistakes like he did back in 2008.

Mclaren were no the quickest in 2007 yet Alonso fought with Ferrari and Mclaren as well. Alonso had no team what so ever with Mclaren in 2007. His third place finish is highly commendable

The karma have just began for Lewis. Now he will feel the pain which alonso suffered back in 2007. Being in a German team and have a German pilot as his teammate. we have seen enough tantrums from Lewis already this season. After the season denouement we will see what Lewis achieved in 2014 with quickest package

As far as kimi, He should have retired long time ago from Formula 1. Being beaten by massa and performed poorer than massa over the first half of the season. Not good enough to be even present on the Formula 1 grid

As a long time admirer of Kimi, I can only say that Ferrari must be a “pig” but having said that cudos must go to Alonso for having put up with this crap for as long as he has. Kimi is not the Kimi from McLaren days, that edge has gone but his racecraft is still intact and hence his success at Lotus, (albiet Grosjean often faster). Kimi has had plenty of time to come to grips with this slug of a Ferrari and quite simply …….has failed given Alonso’s results. The problem lies with Ferrari there inability to produce a competitive chassis and worst of all a puny attempt at horsepower, the F14T is a disaster it looks and goes like a Fiat.

@ schick…. raikonnen’s racecraft, if he ever had it, has disappeared. he is making rookie mistakes and if silverstone is any guide then he should be black flagged for attempting to rejoin a race in such a flagrantly dangerous fashion. that was no racing incident, just ill founded arrogance.

I’m a Kimi fan but that doesn’t mean I have to discredit other drivers. Every driver needs a perfect car to win the title and if the car is not perfect he will probably finish runner up. To make it to F1 itself a great achievement and to become a Champion is the icing of the cake(it doesn’t matter how many times you do it). And why is it Kimi getting so many negative comments, It was very clear since testing he was struggling with the braking of the F14T and with a teammate like Alonso , his shortcomings are displaying in mega proportion. He is proven driver and Ferrari is not just stupid to hire someone for so many millions. About Villeneuve he always seems to ve some kind of prejudice against Kimi.

@ kaartik….. the reason why there are no many negative comments is quite simple really. raikonnen has not delivered. he has been decisively shown up by alonso. he is not up to it ,ATM. why is this so? surely with the season half over he should be showing signs of getting to grips with his car. if he was as good as his fans think then why hasn’t he been able to match alonso or even get close? at the beginning of the season i relished the thought of seeing these two drivers go head to head as i really thought that this would be something exciting to watch. no show at all.if alonso can pull a 6th place then raikonnen should be either 5th/7th or thereabouts. wouldn’t you agree?

anyway,
i have no way of knowing what ferrari are saying internally but if i was to hazard a guess it would most probably be ‘WTF have we done?’

1. That the current Ferrari F1 has been set up to Alonso’s liking! He and everyone associated with the team continue to speak about how difficult it tis to drive and how it lacks downforce. Indeed, the suggestion that it understeers is also incorrrect on most tracks – watch when the car is being driven to its limits and the rear end looks very loose no matter who is driving it!.

2. That in a competitive car, Raiknonen would be the equal of Alonso. Sadly, even by the second half of last season, Raiknonen was being consistently out-qualified and out-raced by his much less experienced team-mate Grosjean: And that was in a much more competitive car.

Raikonen has had his day and it would now appear to be well and truly over. Yes, few drivers would be able to compete week in and week out with Alonso (certainly it is hard to think of anyone as consistent). Few drivers could match Alonso’s ability to push on and maximize their performance in a car which is not to their liking (again, it is hard to think of anyone who could equal Alonso in that regard). But that only accentuates the drop in his performance that was already apparent by the mid-point of last season.